


The Sun, the Moon and the Stars

by malum_animi



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Unus Annus - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, Youtuber RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Quarantined Together, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27114976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malum_animi/pseuds/malum_animi
Summary: To Ethan, Mark's the sun, shining bright and warm, and Amy is the moon, reserved and beautiful. The perfect pair. To Mark and Amy, Ethan's the stars, sparkling and happy. And what's the sun and moon without the stars?
Relationships: Amy Nelson/Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson/Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 14
Kudos: 245
Collections: Kudos folder





	1. Chapter 1

To Ethan, it seemed like the pandemic had swept through California overnight. He knew what was going on in the world of course, but no one had expected it to get so bad in America. One day he they were happily filming Unus Annus, laughing over the terrible ideas the three of them were coming up with, and the next they were having serious conversations on whether or not the channel was even going to continue. It almost didn’t seem right, to continue uploading their ridiculous videos when people were dying. But on the other hand, didn’t they owe it to their fans to give them some sense of normalcy? Something to look forward to when they weren’t sure about their jobs or their health? 

Then it was a question of how it was going to continue. California was days away from a lockdown, people were being told to social distance, to not be in groups together unless they were family. None of them were really keen on the idea of trying to do a socially distanced channel, there was no guarantee when things would be going back to normal, and there was only so much someone could do that way. 

It had been Amy’s idea for Ethan to move in. He was single, he and Mika having realized a couple months ago that they were just better off friends. And she and Mark had plenty of room for him and Spencer. When Mark had enthusiastically agreed, that had been that. They’d gotten Ethan moved in in the span of a couple days, his studio set up in one of the guest room and the rest of his things sitting in boxes in another. He’d even broken his lease, either the pandemic would be over in a couple months and he could look for another place then, or it wouldn’t be, and he wouldn’t be going anywhere anyway. 

They fell into an easy rhythm pretty quick. Mark’s schedule was as busy as always, but with Ethan around, he didn’t feel as guilty about leaving Amy to take care of so much around the house by herself. And even though Ethan had been invited, he wanted to pull his own weight. The part of Ethan’s brain that craved attention loved this too. Being so close to both of his best friends? Having their attention every day of the week? The best thing he could ask for. 

And that’s where the problem started. Ethan wouldn’t lie. He’d always had a bit of a crush on Mark. Who wouldn’t? He was such a genuinely nice person who’d give you the shirt off his back. And handsome too. Way too handsome. The way he always tried to build Ethan’s confidence in himself, making sure he knew the jokes were only jokes and had patience when he’d struggle to read or stumble over a sentence. It was hard not to have a have a crush on him. 

And then there was Amy. Amy who was so sweet and caring, making sure they didn’t maim themselves with their insane ideas and would always compliment him on his looks when he was feeling down and didn‘t even realize. She made sure he took his pills and sat down with him to go through their pantry to make sure he wouldn’t be exposed to anything with peanuts. And she was beautiful too, Mark was the luckiest man in the world as far as Ethan was concerned. 

So yeah. Ethan might have a crush on his best friends. His best friends who were dating each other. He was definitely the third wheel in the situation, but at least they didn’t treat him like it. They always made sure to include him, pulling him down to watch movies with them or making sure he ate dinner with them. He’d brought it up once with Amy, how he didn’t want to intrude, and he knew things were weird right now, so if they wanted to have a date night at the house, they didn’t need to worry about him, he could hole up in his room. 

Amy had laughed, given him a bright grin and pulled him into a half hug that had had Ethan’s heart skipping a beat “Aw Eef, we’d never leave you out, we’d miss you too much.” 

So yeah, Ethan definitely had a crush on his best friends. But that was fine. Really. It would go away once they weren’t living together anymore, just like his initial crush on Mark had faded away after he’d moved to LA and got over his fanboyness. He’d be fine. He definitely didn’t go to bed at night wondering what it would be like to be squished between the two of them or anything. 

He was an adult, he’d survive. 

A month into living with Amy and Mark and his willpower was being tested. He’d found out the hard way that Mark slept naked. He’d had a hard time sleeping, and had come down to get something to drink. That had been all well and good, expect that on his way back up he’d ran right into Mark. A very, very naked Mark. A naked Mark with sleep mussed hair and warm from being wrapped up in blankets and Amy. The squeak Ethan had let out had been far from manly and he’d jerked back, eyes wide and face bright red. Mark hadn’t even had a chance to say anything before Ethan was fleeing back to his bedroom, trying his best not to slam the door. 

Flopping down on the bed, Ethan curled around Spencer with a groan, burying his face into the dog’s soft fur “Spence, I’m gonna die.” he muttered, trying not to think of any part of Mark that was below the waist. Sure, they’d done nude painting, but they hadn’t actually been naked. They’d had underwear on, for Amy’s sake. 

But he’d gotten a good look at Mark tonight. And god it was like it was burned into his brain. All tan skin and muscle. The cut of his hips and his—no. He wasn’t going to go there. He absolutely wasn’t going to go there. “Spencer. I think I’m screwed.” he muttered, getting a cold nose pressed to his cheek in return. “I know, I’m an idiot.” he said miserably. 

There wouldn’t be any sleeping for Ethan tonight. He was too busy wallowing in the feelings he was trying desperately to ignore. Just a crush. It was only a crush. But he could tell himself that all he wanted, it didn’t make it true. Ethan Nestor was firmly in love with one Mark Fischbach and Amy Nelson and there just wasn’t anything he could do about it. 

Mark really hadn’t meant for Ethan to see him. He’d been sure his friend was asleep, and he’d just needed to go to the bathroom. The one in their bedroom was loud, and he hadn’t wanted to wake Amy. But then he’d ran right into the younger man. He had planned on making a joke, brushing it off and apologizing, but Ethan had turned bright red, spluttering a little before sprinting back down the hall. 

He’d stared for a moment before shaking his head and slipping back into the bedroom. Though his plan to not wake Amy had failed, she was sitting up a little in bed. “Sorry, was trying to be quiet.” he murmured as he settled back into bed, holding his arm out for her to curl against him again. 

“It’s okay. Where’d you go?” Amy asked quietly, snuggling against him and resting her head on his chest. 

“Bathroom. But I ran into Ethan. He got an eyeful.” He said ruefully, chuckling softly and rubbing his hand over his face. 

Amy gasped and slapped him on the chest playfully “Mark! You couldn’t have put some boxers on?” she asked, giving him a look “Poor Ethan’s probably traumatized now.” 

Mark pouted and flushed a little “He uh...didn’t look traumatized.” he muttered. He’d seen the look on Ethan’s face, his wide eyes and red cheeks and the way his eyes had dropped down his body. He wasn’t blind to the way his friend looked at him sometimes. 

Amy was quiet for a moment, and Mark wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. “I’ve noticed.’ she murmured softly. 

“You have?” he asked curiously, looking down at her. 

Amy scoffed softly and shifted so she could look up at her boyfriend “Mark, sometimes Ethan looks at you like you're his sun. I’d have to be completely blind not to notice it.” she told him, raising a brow. 

Mark blushed and looked away, staring at the dark ceiling. He didn’t think about it. He never let himself think about it. He’d seen the way Ethan watched him when the younger man thought no one was paying attention to him. But Mark was always paying attention to Ethan. 

It was hard not to. He might have been small, but he was so full of life and Mark found himself doing everything he could to make sure Ethan was happy and laughing. Because a happy and laughing Ethan made him happy. 

And he was cute. Mark knew Ethan had issues with his looks, but he’d never been able to understand why. Sure he had some acne, but everyone did. He was lean and small and had the brightest smile. Mark had a whole list in his head of things that he loved about Ethan that he was sure the younger man hated about himself. From his crooked tooth to the way he stumbled over words when he got too excited or nervous. 

Amy shifted in his arms though and brought his attention back to the present. She sat up a little and reached out, brushing his hair out of his face “Mark, you look at him like that too.’ she said softly. 

“Amy...” he started, but she shook her head and he fell quiet. 

“I know you love me, I’ve never doubted that Mark. But you love him too. I know you do.” She said softly. 

Mark just sighed out and closed his eyes. Amy was right, he knew she was. Amy was always right. God he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her. 

Amy sighed and settled back down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before she laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re allowed to love more than one person Mark, and if I’m honest, I like him a little more than I should too.” she admitted. 

Mark opened his eyes at that and looked down at his girlfriend. “If he looks at me like I'm the sun, he looks at you like you hung the moon.” he pointed out “And I’d know, I look at you the same way.” he murmured. 

Amy bit her lip and wrapped her arm around Mark’s stomach, tracing her fingers along his skin “Maybe we should talk to him. I know he’s been worried that he’s intruding on our relationship. But maybe he could be part of it.” 

Mark thought about it for a moment, being in a relationship with both of them, if that was even something Ethan wanted. He imagined kissing him, bringing him to bed. He imagined Amy kissing him, the three of them together. And he smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her hair “Yeah, yeah I think we should.” he murmured. 

In the morning, once Mark had apologized for walking around nude in the middle of the night and after Amy made sure they both ate breakfast before brainstorming and filming. They’d find the time to talk to Ethan. Mark just hoped that they weren’t reading into it. He didn’t know what he’d do without Ethan in his life. 

But that was in the morning. Right now he could curl back around Amy, bury his face in her soft hair and cocoon them in their blankets. And he didn’t have to worry about anything, even as his mind kept wandering down the hall to where Ethan was sleeping. 

Tomorrow. Tomorrow everything would come to light with the sun.


	2. Chapter 2

Tomorrow came all too soon for Ethan. His alarm woke him up at seven, sun streaming into the bedroom. He groaned and rolled over, slapping at his phone until he managed to turn it off before he sat up. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking down at Spencer as the dog whined and nosed at him. “I know buddy, can’t stay holed up in here all day.” he muttered. Quickly getting dressed, Ethan opened the door and followed Spencer downstairs, letting the dog out first before he headed into the kitchen.

Mark and Amy were already up of course, not that Ethan expected anything different, and he managed to give them both a tired smile before making a beeline for the coffee maker. He hoped Mark would just forget about last night, and not bring it up at all. And as the couple talked quietly while he made his coffee, Ethan was starting to think he’d do just that.

“Ethan, I’m sorry about last night.” Mark said a moment later.

Of course he couldn’t be that lucky. Ethan closed his eyes for a moment and took a long sip of his coffee before he turned around and gave Mark a small smile “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

Mark shook his head and pushed his hair out of his face “No, I should have realized there would be a chance you’d be awake. This is your house too, I can’t just wander around naked like a weirdo.” he said, flushing a little in embarrassment.

“Mark, really. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Ethan mumbled into his coffee, willing himself to just disappear. He could feel two sets of eyes on him, and having both their attention on him like that was almost too much.

Mark sighed and glanced at Amy, who just raised a brow at him and glanced at Ethan. That was his cue he supposed. They’d already agreed that he should be the one to bring it up, and Amy would jump in when she needed to.

“We wanted to talk to you. About that. Well. Not about that, but sort of that. That adjacent.” Mark said, and now he was rambling a little and he winced as Amy kicked him under the table.

Ethan was staring at him in confusion from over his mug and Mark groaned, rubbing a hand over his face “Let me try that again.” he muttered. “We want to talk to you about feelings. Feelings for us.” Because that was so much better.

Ethan’s eyes widened a little and his hands tightened on his mug “Feelings? I uh I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he stammered. They couldn’t know. They couldn’t. Ethan had done such a good job hiding his crush on them. He’d hidden his crush on Mark for years, there was no way he’d been found out after a month of living with them.

Was there?

God he hoped not. He didn’t know what he’d do. Find somewhere that was taking applications despite the pandemic. Live in his car. Go back to Maine and beg his parents to let him move back in. Because if Mark and Amy had even an idea of how he felt, there was absolutely no way he could keep living here. For one, the embarrassment would kill him, and second, he doubted that they’d want their weird friend who thought lusting after a couple as a good idea to keep living with them.

“Eth, we’re not blind. I know how you look at Mark, you’ve looked at him like that for a long time.” Amy started and Ethan shook his head, unable to look at Mark.

“Amy. I wouldn’t...I know...” he trailed off, taking a step back, putting some space between them.

Amy sat her coffee down and stood, walking over to him. She wrapped her hands around his wrists and gave him that soft smile that always had his heart beating just a bit too fast “Ethan. It’s okay.” she murmured.

But all Ethan could do was shake his head, looking down and squeezing his eyes closed “It’s not. It’s not okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...I thought I was hiding it. I’m sorry.” he mumbled. “I’m sorry. It won’t be a problem, I swear.” he felt Amy’s hands leave and his coffee cup was being taken away from him. This was it. They were going to kick him out right here.

Amy was replaced by Mark though. And large hands were cupping his face and making him look up “Ethan, calm down.” he murmured, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

The press of lips against his skin had Ethan freezing in place and he sniffled a little, looking up at Mark in confusion. Why weren’t they kicking him out? “...Mark?” he asked quietly.

“Amy and I talked last night. About you. We like you Ethan, a lot. I like you a lot.” he murmured, stepping back to look at him, giving him a small grin. “We both like you a lot. And we want to do something about it.”

Ethan just stared. He had to be dreaming. “You...what?” was all he managed to get out.

Amy laughed quietly and moved to stand next to her boyfriend “We have feelings for you Ethan. Mark’s are a little deeper than mine are, but I know that’ll change. You fit so well with us, having you here has been the best month.” she told him.

“I...you guys...you’re not gonna kick me out?” Ethan asked weakly, looking between the two of them.

Mark snorted and shook his head “Of course we’re not going to kick you out.”

Amy made a noise of agreement and looked between the two of them “What we are going to do is sit down and talk about this. Is that okay? That way we’re all on the same page?” she asked Ethan. She was quickly realizing that Ethan had already made up his mind about how he’d expected them to react, and by doing this, they’d shattered all of that. He wasn’t fragile, but he was going to need some convincing.

Ethan nodded quickly, realizing that at some point he’d reached out and curled his hand into Mark’s shirt, and he dropped his hand, wrapping his arms around himself and chewing on his lip.

Mark grinned and ushered them into the living room, guiding Ethan to sit down before he settled next to him, Amy taking the seat on the other side. As much as he wanted to wrap an arm around Ethan and pull him close, he didn’t. He could tell the younger man was still uncomfortable with this, not sure what was going on. And Mark wasn’t going to make that worse.

“I’ve got feelings for you Ethan. I have for awhile. I just ignored them because I had Amy and I don’t like things I can’t control.” Mark said softly.

Ethan chewed on his lip, picking at a loose thread in his jeans and looked between them “What changed?” he asked quietly.

Amy smiled and reached out, resting her hand over Ethan’s and stilling the nervous movement “He realized that he doesn’t have to choose between you and me.” she said, squeezing his hand gently. “I like you too. You fit so well with us and I know it’s only been a month, but I can’t imagine you not living here now.”

Ethan swallowed hard, slipping his hand over so he could hold Amy’s properly, returning the squeeze. The smile that she gave him made the action more than worth it. “I...I like you both too. I just. This is a lot.” He said softly, flushing and staring down at their entwined hands.

He looked up though when Mark shifted closer to them, reaching out and laying his hand over theirs. “We’ve got nothing but time. Neither of us expect this to just turn into a functioning relationship overnight.” he murmured.

That made Ethan relax a little, knowing that neither of them were planning on pushing him into anything. He needed time to wrap his head around this. Digest the fact that they were welcoming him into their relationship.

Amy smiled and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. It was nothing she hadn’t done before, but now it had Ethan going red and giving her a shy smile. “We can take it one day at a time.” she said in agreement.

One day at a time. Ethan could do that. One day at a time with the best two people in his life. His best friends who knew he felt something for them and they actually liked him back. Was he dreaming still? A chuckle from Mark made him realize that he must have said that part out loud and he went red in embarrassment.

“It’s not a dream.” Mark said, letting their hands go and bringing his up to card gently through Ethan’s hair “It’s not a dream and I’d very much like to kiss you.” he said as his hand came to rest on the back of Ethan’s neck, squeezing gently.

Ethan’s eyes went wide and he couldn’t help but glance at Amy for a moment before he nodded jerkily. He reminded himself that this was okay. Amy was okay with this. She wasn’t going to get angry that her boyfriend was going to kiss him.

Mark smiled and leaned in, pressing their foreheads together for a moment before he closed the distance between them. It was a gentle kiss, barely more than a press of their lips together. He didn’t want to overwhelm Ethan, who was so obviously struggling right now. It might not have lasted long, but it was still perfect as far as Mark was concerned. But it was hard for anything not to be perfect when Ethan was involved. 

A soft noise escaped Ethan when he felt Mark’s lips against his own. They were warm and soft and he fell into it easily, kissing him back just as gently and slowly. He’d only dreamed about kissing Mark for years, though that had been back when he still had a bad case of hero worship.

But then Mark was pulling back and Ethan’s eyes opened, giving him a shy smile. A hand on his cheek though had him turning his head to face Amy, and he could see the question in her eyes too. He just nodded, and she smiled before kissing him as well.

Kissing Amy, even as short and sweet as the kisses were, was so much different than Mark. She let him take the lead, and he could taste her peppermint chapstick. Even though he was given the lead, he kept it as short as his kiss with Mark, pulling back after a moment and leaning into the hand that way still on his face.

This could be good. This had so much potential to be good. Ethan just had to get used to it. He was already so entangled into their lives, but now he just had to get used to not hiding. He could love them. He settled back on the couch and smiled a little, reaching out to take Mark’s hand so he was holding onto both of them.

Yeah. He could be happy like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for the warm reception to this little fic of mine! Your comments mean everything to me! I can't promise steady uploads since I work full time and run an Etsy on top of it, but I'll do my best!


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